Attention A T users. To access the menus on this page please perform the following steps.
1. Please switch auto forms mode to off.
2. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc).
3. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow.
You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links.

Quick Links

Enter ZIP code here

Enter ZIP code here

How do you know if the drugs are working?

for Veterans and the Public

How do you know if the drugs are working?

Treatment

After you've started taking medicine for your HIV, your health care provider will look at how much HIV virus is in your bloodstream (your viral load) to see how well the drug therapy is working. If the medicines are working, your viral load goes down. You will have less of the virus in your bloodstream. A very important goal of treatment is to reduce the viral load to "undetectable" levels, and to keep it there. "Undetectable" means the viral load is too low to measure using standard laboratory tests.

Other ways you and your provider can see if the drugs are working are:

Your CD4 count. This number should stay the same or go up if your drugs are working.

Your health checkups. Your treatment should help keep you healthy and help you fight off infections and diseases.